Rocco Galati started his career as a tax litigator for the Department of Justice, but soon decided to switch sides: He devoted himself, he says, to “cases against the government.”

“You need a lawyer when the government’s after you. Private disputes you should be able to settle. But the government’s a machine,” he said. “Often there’s little room for negotiation. It’s all or nothing.”

The Toronto lawyer, known for his florid, over-the-top language, has carved a reputation for being a thorn in the side of the federal government. He stuck it to the government when he successfully challenged the appointment of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court of Canada. Now, he’s at it again with a court challenge against changes to the Citizenship Act that allow the government to revoke the Canadian citizenship of dual citizens convicted of terrorism or treason.

Last month, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander called Mr. Galati a “disgraced, ideological former lawyer of the Khadr family.” Mr. Galati once represented Abdurahman Khadr, the older brother of convicted war criminal Omar Khadr.

Mr. Galati insists he is not driven by ideology or politics (“I sued the Liberal government more than I can count,” he said), and denounced Mr. Alexander for resorting to mudslinging. “Instead of trying to deal with the message, he tries to denigrate the messenger.”

Over the course of a 45-minute chat this week, Mr. Galati called the war on terror “phoney,” said judicial appointments aren’t based on merit but who you know, and suggested that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is likely listening in on his calls.

The government, he said, is a “machine” that doesn’t care for the little guy.

The son of a construction worker, the Italian-born Mr. Galati, 55, has spent more than two decades of defending terror suspects and other individuals pegged for deportation.

J.P. Moczulski for Postmedia News

He has represented a Ghanian couple in a lawsuit that alleged blacks were targeted for deportation more than other groups; sued the Immigration and Refugee Board, alleging that appointments to the board were based on patronage; and took on the cause of Falun Gong practitioners who alleged intimidation from the Chinese government. He represented one of the suspects rounded up in the “Toronto 18” terrorism case.

He also represented Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohamed Mahjoub, Egyptian refugees branded terrorists by the federal government. Mr. Galati famously walked out of a Federal Court hearing in 2002, calling the proceedings against Mr. Jaballah a “sham.”

Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Galati appeared before a House committee and slammed the government’s proposed anti-terror legislation, saying it was “obscene in the net it casts” and would unfairly target Muslims and Arabs. “You might as well have deleted the constitution from our landscape,” he testified.

Mr. Galati’s defence of terror suspects made him a target of death threats. The threats became serious enough that he announced in late 2003 that he was withdrawing from all national security cases. He cited a voice mail from someone who did not like that he had helped secure Abdurahman Khadr’s release from U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “You a dead wop,” the voice said.

Mr. Galati was convinced then, and maintains today, that the threat was not run-of-the-mill. “This was institutional, this was governmental,” he said this week, declining to elaborate.

Mr. Galati rankled the judiciary a few years later when he successfully filed a constitutional challenge against the Federal Court’s practice of appointing deputy judges who were over the age of 75, and again last fall when he challenged Judge Nadon’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, arguing that he did not meet the criteria to fill one of three Quebec seats.

J.P. Moczulski for Postmedia News

Without an independent judiciary, you’re left with a dictatorship, Mr. Galati said.

As with the challenge against Judge Nadon’s appointment, the challenge against changes to the Citizenship Act is similarly aimed at ensuring the government’s basic adherence to the constitution, Mr. Galati said. “If you’re born here that’s the end of the discussion. The federal government has no jurisdiction over citizenship.”

Alexis Pavlich, a spokeswoman for the immigration minister, said in an email this week: “Canadians gave us a strong mandate to protect and strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship.”

So does Mr. Galati have anything positive to say about the current state of government? He said that he doesn’t pretend to know everything the government does. But, he said, we can’t take governance for granted and must remain vigilant over our rights.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has released its last budget before the fall federal election

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